Online Appendix

Figure A1. Federal Register Activity Across Topics

Panel A: Distribution across top10 topics, all types of documents

Panel B: Distribution across top10 topics, rules only

Panel C: Distribution across top10 topics, notices only

Figure A2. Time‐Series Trends in Topics

Panel A: Topics with the greatest decrease or increase over the entire sample period

Topic	Label	Words 1995	Words 2019	Abs Change	% Change
41	Exp/Imp: Transport & Marine Animals	62,164	419,219	357,055	574%
23	Health: insurance	67,467	398,078	330,611	490%
7	Env: data & studies	152,173	400,818	248,645	163%

Topic	Label	Words 1995	Words 2019	Abs Change	% Change
18	Claims	621,714	185,605	-436,109	-70%
37	Flood insur: naviga	296,645	172,487	-124,158	-42%
79	Aviation Safety: inspection	154,147	57,095	-97,052	-63%

Panel B: Topics with the biggest change around the 2016 presidential election

Panel C: Topics with the biggest change around the 2008-09 financial crisis

Figure A3: Time-series Trends in Agencies

Panel A: Agencies with the greatest decrease or increase over the entire sample period

Agency	Label	Words 1995	Words 2019	Abs Change	% Change
securities and exchange commission	SEC	639,490	1,883,208	1,243,718	194%
department of health and human services	DHHS	900,503	1,902,242	1,001,739	111%
department of commerce	Commerce	771,123	1,343,368	572,245	74%

Agency	Label	Words 1995	Words 2019	Abs Change	% Change
department of agriculture	USDA	763,756	331,946	-431,810	-57%
department of housing and urban developm	HUD	447,571	125,876	-321,695	-72%
department of energy	DOE	591,957	379,722	-212,235	-36%

Panel B: Agencies with the biggest change around the 2016 presidential election

Panel C: Agencies with biggest change around 2008-09 financial crisis

Figure A4: Scatter bin plots of main outcome variables, as a function of regulatory fragmentation

Figure A5: Robustness to excluding outliers

SGA_AT

TFP

ROA

Growth

Growth/at

emp_at

Table A1: Validation using costs of compliance

name	cor_regul.frag	cor_topic.frag	cor_regul.quant
RegIn_Regulations	-0.32	-0.05	0.52
RegIn_Responses	-0.37	-0.03	0.47
RegIn_Time	-0.34	-0.01	0.44
regd_words	-0.19	-0.06	0.30
regd_restrictions	-0.29	-0.07	0.25
regd_restrictions_share	-0.14	-0.05	0.36

Table A2: Validation exercise within finance industry

	company_FR.frag_norm	agencies_10K.frag_norm
Regulation Dispersion	0.016	0.112***
	(0.015)	(0.015)
Topic Dispersion	0.090***	-0.033
	(0.013)	(0.044)
Regulation Complexity	0.004	-0.115
	(0.029)	(0.092)
Log(Word,10K)	0.036***	0.189***
	(0.002)	(0.019)
Nsegments	-0.024**	0.009
	(0.007)	(0.026)
PPE/AT	-0.128**	-0.036
	(0.030)	(0.025)
EBITDA/AT	0.175**	-0.039
	(0.055)	(0.041)
Log(Sale)	0.023	0.107**
	(0.088)	(0.024)
Tobin's Q	-0.037	-0.007
	(0.050)	(0.005)
Num.Obs.	2758	9688
R2	0.806	0.810
R2 Adj.	0.772	0.780
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X
FE: cik	X	X

Table A3: Effects of Regulation quantity in alternative specifications

Panel A: Omitting control variable for the length of 10K

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
Regulation Dispersion	0.054***	-0.034*	-0.059***	-0.107***	-0.135***	0.011*
	(0.014)	(0.018)	(0.016)	(0.022)	(0.026)	(0.006)
Topic Dispersion	0.049**	-0.035*	0.019	-0.011	0.011	0.008
	(0.019)	(0.018)	(0.015)	(0.019)	(0.022)	(0.011)
Regulation Complexity	0.023	-0.013	-0.063***	-0.102***	-0.126***	-0.002
	(0.020)	(0.023)	(0.020)	(0.029)	(0.026)	(0.014)
Nsegments	0.003	0.000	-0.011**	-0.001	-0.007	-0.003
	(0.004)	(0.005)	(0.004)	(0.005)	(0.006)	(0.003)
PPE/AT	0.069**	-0.253***	-0.073***	-0.070**	-0.196***	0.073***
	(0.031)	(0.037)	(0.025)	(0.032)	(0.053)	(0.021)
EBITDA/AT	-0.022**	0.387***	0.344***	-0.013	0.043***	0.024***
	(0.010)	(0.026)	(0.032)	(0.029)	(0.015)	(0.007)
Log(Sale)	-0.320***	0.358***	0.309***	0.595***	0.503***	-0.036
	(0.051)	(0.040)	(0.034)	(0.054)	(0.046)	(0.025)
Tobin's Q	0.111***	0.209***	-0.053***	0.043***	-0.050***	0.031***
	(0.008)	(0.020)	(0.009)	(0.010)	(0.012)	(0.006)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.872	0.730	0.651	0.399	0.304	0.923
R2 Adj.	0.850	0.679	0.591	0.295	0.184	0.910
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Panel B: Large firms, omitting control variable for the length of 10K

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
Regulation Dispersion	0.035***	-0.017	-0.044***	-0.065*	-0.074**	0.004
	(0.012)	(0.019)	(0.013)	(0.032)	(0.034)	(0.007)
Topic Dispersion	0.019	-0.022	0.003	0.009	0.015	0.001
	(0.012)	(0.022)	(0.010)	(0.022)	(0.019)	(0.010)
Regulation Complexity	-0.012	-0.013	-0.035**	-0.018	-0.009	-0.009
	(0.015)	(0.027)	(0.014)	(0.037)	(0.031)	(0.015)
Nsegments	0.001	-0.001	-0.006**	0.006	-0.003	-0.002
	(0.002)	(0.004)	(0.003)	(0.006)	(0.007)	(0.002)
PPE/AT	0.070**	-0.268***	-0.045	-0.097**	-0.232***	0.061**
	(0.033)	(0.065)	(0.039)	(0.044)	(0.054)	(0.027)
EBITDA/AT	0.036*	0.433***	0.280***	0.078	-0.023	0.026**
	(0.019)	(0.059)	(0.071)	(0.051)	(0.042)	(0.012)
Log(Sale)	-0.110***	0.266***	0.109**	0.469***	0.391***	-0.024
	(0.035)	(0.056)	(0.042)	(0.073)	(0.085)	(0.025)
Tobin's Q	0.063***	0.174***	0.030**	0.054**	-0.022	0.027**
	(0.008)	(0.029)	(0.014)	(0.026)	(0.024)	(0.011)
Num.Obs.	30267	19411	30267	30267	30267	30267
R2	0.928	0.740	0.516	0.449	0.352	0.950
R2 Adj.	0.914	0.684	0.423	0.344	0.228	0.940
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Panel C: Small firms, omitting control variable for the length of 10K

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
Regulation Dispersion	0.059***	-0.020	-0.078***	-0.133***	-0.175***	0.018*
	(0.019)	(0.031)	(0.028)	(0.024)	(0.025)	(0.010)
Topic Dispersion	0.049**	-0.045	0.053*	-0.056	0.001	0.011
	(0.024)	(0.030)	(0.031)	(0.042)	(0.039)	(0.021)
Regulation Complexity	0.085***	-0.038	-0.102***	-0.199***	-0.221***	0.000
	(0.029)	(0.040)	(0.036)	(0.063)	(0.041)	(0.023)
Nsegments	0.007	0.004	-0.016*	-0.022**	-0.019*	0.000
	(0.009)	(0.012)	(0.008)	(0.009)	(0.011)	(0.010)
PPE/AT	0.043	-0.243***	-0.091***	-0.074**	-0.184***	0.073**
	(0.039)	(0.031)	(0.028)	(0.031)	(0.053)	(0.027)
EBITDA/AT	-0.026**	0.347***	0.313***	-0.066*	0.038**	0.018**
	(0.010)	(0.030)	(0.028)	(0.036)	(0.016)	(0.007)
Log(Sale)	-0.413***	0.326***	0.538***	0.952***	0.675***	-0.016
	(0.054)	(0.049)	(0.054)	(0.101)	(0.095)	(0.027)
Tobin's Q	0.119***	0.254***	-0.072***	0.030*	-0.062***	0.032***
	(0.013)	(0.027)	(0.014)	(0.015)	(0.015)	(0.006)
Num.Obs.	30267	19511	30267	30267	30267	30267
R2	0.843	0.702	0.671	0.440	0.359	0.922
R2 Adj.	0.800	0.609	0.581	0.287	0.184	0.901
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Panel D: Employing Kalmenovitz (2023) measures of regulation quantity, with large firm interaction

To maintain consistency with Kalmenovitz (2023) this table was estimated separately in Stata.

Table A4: Relationship between Rules and Notices

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
lag1_notice	0.248***		0.138***	0.113***
	(0.046)		(0.031)	(0.016)
lag2_notice	0.161***		0.085***	0.102***
	(0.028)		(0.023)	(0.017)
lead1_notice		0.234***	0.144***	0.122***
		(0.050)	(0.032)	(0.016)
lead2_notice		0.201***	0.138***	0.142***
		(0.025)	(0.018)	(0.016)
Num.Obs.	203800	203800	203800	203800
R2	0.830	0.832	0.835	0.898
R2 Adj.	0.830	0.832	0.835	0.895
Std.Errors	by: agency	by: agency	by: agency	by: agency
FE: agency	X	X	X	X
FE: year	X	X	X
FE: TopicNumber	X	X	X
FE: agencyNtime				X
FE: timeNtopic				X
FE: agencyNtopic				X

Table A5: Re-estimating main regressions, defining dependent variables at different points in time

Panel A: Dependent variables measured contemporaneously with control variables

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
Regulation Dispersion	0.050***	-0.053***	-0.017	-0.111***	-0.107***	0.011*
	(0.012)	(0.020)	(0.011)	(0.029)	(0.027)	(0.007)
Topic Dispersion	0.029*	-0.055***	-0.017*	0.006	0.053*	-0.005
	(0.015)	(0.018)	(0.010)	(0.021)	(0.031)	(0.011)
Regulation Complexity	0.034	-0.025	0.013	-0.123***	-0.081**	0.014
	(0.024)	(0.025)	(0.014)	(0.033)	(0.035)	(0.018)
Log(Word,10K)	-0.021*	-0.011	-0.052***	0.025**	-0.033*	-0.020*
	(0.011)	(0.011)	(0.013)	(0.011)	(0.016)	(0.010)
Nsegments	0.000	-0.004	0.002	0.007	0.006	-0.005*
	(0.003)	(0.004)	(0.004)	(0.006)	(0.006)	(0.003)
PPE/AT	0.189***	-0.271***	-0.208***	-0.148***	-0.455***	0.133***
	(0.049)	(0.053)	(0.024)	(0.052)	(0.069)	(0.028)
EBITDA/AT	-0.245***	0.956***	0.917***	0.227***	0.305***	-0.004
	(0.034)	(0.062)	(0.019)	(0.036)	(0.023)	(0.006)
Log(Sale)	-0.070*	0.487***	-0.139***	0.522***	-0.092**	-0.014
	(0.037)	(0.047)	(0.027)	(0.049)	(0.042)	(0.022)
Tobin's Q	0.140***	-0.004	-0.045***	0.073***	-0.022**	0.035***
	(0.010)	(0.019)	(0.010)	(0.012)	(0.009)	(0.005)
Num.Obs.	60305	39559	60534	60534	60534	60380
R2	0.893	0.811	0.829	0.373	0.301	0.925
R2 Adj.	0.875	0.775	0.800	0.265	0.180	0.912
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Panel B: Dependent variables measured at time t+2

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
Regulation Dispersion	0.021*	-0.018	-0.004**	0.004	-0.024	-0.008
	(0.011)	(0.016)	(0.002)	(0.012)	(0.027)	(0.010)
Topic Dispersion	0.033**	-0.044**	0.032	-0.003	-0.012	0.007
	(0.016)	(0.021)	(0.036)	(0.010)	(0.013)	(0.010)
Regulation Complexity	-0.006	0.015	-0.002	0.015	-0.003	0.018
	(0.019)	(0.023)	(0.010)	(0.011)	(0.004)	(0.020)
Log(Word,10K)	-0.012	-0.021	-0.006	-0.005	-0.007	-0.025
	(0.011)	(0.015)	(0.007)	(0.005)	(0.008)	(0.019)
Nsegments	-0.001	-0.002	0.003	0.000	-0.005	0.003
	(0.003)	(0.006)	(0.002)	(0.001)	(0.006)	(0.005)
PPE/AT	-0.001	-0.156***	0.010	-0.020	0.001	0.029*
	(0.018)	(0.024)	(0.006)	(0.016)	(0.001)	(0.016)
EBITDA/AT	0.069***	0.150***	0.016**	0.003	-0.002	0.022**
	(0.021)	(0.023)	(0.006)	(0.007)	(0.003)	(0.011)
Log(Sale)	-0.325***	0.196***	0.024	0.021*	0.001	0.001
	(0.056)	(0.039)	(0.028)	(0.011)	(0.001)	(0.028)
Tobin's Q	0.080***	0.231***	-0.005	-0.003	0.000	0.011***
	(0.009)	(0.023)	(0.007)	(0.002)	(0.001)	(0.004)
Num.Obs.	59804	35283	60233	57237	57372	59774
R2	0.807	0.706	0.480	0.309	0.355	0.800
R2 Adj.	0.773	0.650	0.390	0.191	0.244	0.765
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Panel C: Dependent variables measured at time t+3

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
Regulation Dispersion	0.008	-0.010	0.002	0.004	-0.007	-0.006
	(0.011)	(0.015)	(0.004)	(0.005)	(0.008)	(0.007)
Topic Dispersion	0.028*	-0.019	0.033	-0.001	-0.004	-0.006
	(0.016)	(0.020)	(0.035)	(0.005)	(0.005)	(0.010)
Regulation Complexity	-0.034	0.046	0.004	0.014	-0.009	0.020
	(0.021)	(0.032)	(0.011)	(0.011)	(0.010)	(0.020)
Log(Word,10K)	-0.007	-0.024	-0.004	-0.002	0.004	-0.027
	(0.012)	(0.017)	(0.008)	(0.005)	(0.004)	(0.019)
Nsegments	-0.001	0.004	0.004	0.000	0.008	0.004
	(0.003)	(0.004)	(0.004)	(0.001)	(0.009)	(0.004)
PPE/AT	-0.016	-0.082***	0.011	0.010	-0.001	0.014
	(0.019)	(0.017)	(0.008)	(0.011)	(0.002)	(0.010)
EBITDA/AT	0.084***	0.086***	0.008	-0.005	0.005	0.016**
	(0.023)	(0.012)	(0.009)	(0.004)	(0.005)	(0.007)
Log(Sale)	-0.310***	0.022	-0.001	0.026*	-0.009	0.001
	(0.057)	(0.044)	(0.045)	(0.014)	(0.010)	(0.024)
Tobin's Q	0.051***	0.144***	-0.002	0.012	0.001	0.009***
	(0.006)	(0.009)	(0.006)	(0.013)	(0.001)	(0.003)
Num.Obs.	56412	31651	57171	54206	54376	56461
R2	0.799	0.693	0.445	0.531	0.517	0.736
R2 Adj.	0.764	0.634	0.350	0.451	0.434	0.690
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Table A6: The flow versus stock of regulation

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
regul.disp_rolling10_norm	0.045***	-0.028	-0.065***	-0.049**	-0.084***	0.003
	(0.013)	(0.020)	(0.013)	(0.022)	(0.028)	(0.008)
Num.Obs.	42241	26550	42241	42241	42241	42241
R2	0.893	0.766	0.683	0.409	0.303	0.943
R2 Adj.	0.874	0.720	0.627	0.305	0.181	0.933
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Table A7: Robustness of findings to firms without big operational changes

	SGA|ind	SGA|seg	SGA|size	TFP|ind	TFP|seg	TFP|size	Grwoth|ind	Growth|seg	Growth|size
regul.disp_norm	0.042***	0.043***	0.047***	-0.036**	-0.035**	-0.034**	-0.099***	-0.099***	-0.110***
	(0.015)	(0.016)	(0.015)	(0.016)	(0.016)	(0.017)	(0.017)	(0.017)	(0.017)
index	0.011	0.007	0.045***	-0.002	-0.007	0.084***	0.000	0.010	0.079***
	(0.007)	(0.006)	(0.007)	(0.011)	(0.012)	(0.013)	(0.012)	(0.018)	(0.014)
regul.disp_norm × index	0.007	0.005	-0.009	0.001	-0.004	0.001	0.006	0.011	0.046**
	(0.007)	(0.013)	(0.007)	(0.017)	(0.012)	(0.010)	(0.018)	(0.025)	(0.022)
Num.Obs.	60534	60534	60534	38922	38922	38922	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.867	0.867	0.868	0.719	0.719	0.720	0.363	0.363	0.364
R2 Adj.	0.848	0.848	0.848	0.676	0.676	0.678	0.270	0.270	0.271
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: year	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X

Table A8: Re-estimating main regressions, excluding control variables related to firm complexity

Panel A: including all controls and fixed effects, except ‘Dispersion of topics within firm’

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
Regulation Dispersion	0.052***	-0.030*	-0.053***	-0.110***	-0.140***	0.012**
	(0.014)	(0.018)	(0.015)	(0.022)	(0.027)	(0.006)
Regulation Complexity	0.012	0.025	0.042***	-0.156***	-0.210***	0.012
	(0.023)	(0.017)	(0.014)	(0.037)	(0.039)	(0.016)
Log(Word,10K)	-0.020*	-0.020*	-0.130***	0.068***	0.087***	-0.020**
	(0.011)	(0.012)	(0.033)	(0.021)	(0.019)	(0.010)
Nsegments	0.003	0.001	-0.008**	-0.002	-0.009	-0.003
	(0.004)	(0.005)	(0.004)	(0.005)	(0.006)	(0.004)
PPE/AT	0.069**	-0.255***	-0.076***	-0.069**	-0.193***	0.073***
	(0.031)	(0.038)	(0.026)	(0.031)	(0.052)	(0.020)
EBITDA/AT	-0.023**	0.385***	0.336***	-0.009	0.049***	0.023***
	(0.010)	(0.026)	(0.031)	(0.028)	(0.015)	(0.007)
Log(Sale)	-0.316***	0.362***	0.332***	0.583***	0.488***	-0.033
	(0.050)	(0.041)	(0.039)	(0.053)	(0.045)	(0.024)
Tobin's Q	0.111***	0.209***	-0.054***	0.044***	-0.049***	0.031***
	(0.008)	(0.020)	(0.009)	(0.010)	(0.012)	(0.006)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.872	0.730	0.653	0.399	0.305	0.923
R2 Adj.	0.850	0.679	0.593	0.296	0.185	0.910
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Panel B: including all controls and fixed effects, except ‘Number of segments’

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
Regulation Dispersion	0.055***	-0.032*	-0.053***	-0.110***	-0.138***	0.012**
	(0.014)	(0.018)	(0.015)	(0.022)	(0.027)	(0.006)
Topic Dispersion	0.046**	-0.037**	-0.009	0.003	0.030	0.004
	(0.019)	(0.018)	(0.018)	(0.019)	(0.020)	(0.012)
Regulation Complexity	0.034	0.005	0.038**	-0.155***	-0.195***	0.014
	(0.026)	(0.021)	(0.019)	(0.037)	(0.034)	(0.015)
Log(Word,10K)	-0.014	-0.021*	-0.131***	0.068***	0.089***	-0.020*
	(0.011)	(0.012)	(0.031)	(0.022)	(0.019)	(0.010)
PPE/AT	0.068**	-0.254***	-0.076***	-0.069**	-0.193***	0.073***
	(0.030)	(0.037)	(0.026)	(0.031)	(0.052)	(0.020)
EBITDA/AT	-0.023**	0.385***	0.336***	-0.009	0.049***	0.023***
	(0.010)	(0.026)	(0.031)	(0.029)	(0.015)	(0.007)
Log(Sale)	-0.317***	0.363***	0.331***	0.582***	0.485***	-0.033
	(0.050)	(0.041)	(0.039)	(0.053)	(0.044)	(0.023)
Tobin's Q	0.111***	0.209***	-0.054***	0.044***	-0.049***	0.031***
	(0.008)	(0.020)	(0.009)	(0.010)	(0.012)	(0.006)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.872	0.730	0.653	0.399	0.305	0.923
R2 Adj.	0.850	0.679	0.593	0.296	0.185	0.910
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Panel C: including all controls and fixed effects, except ‘Dispersion of topics within firm’, ‘Number of segments’, ‘Length of 10K’, and ‘Tobins Q’

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
Regulation Dispersion	0.049***	-0.034*	-0.059***	-0.107***	-0.134***	0.010*
	(0.014)	(0.017)	(0.016)	(0.022)	(0.027)	(0.006)
Regulation Complexity	-0.010	-0.003	-0.072***	-0.097***	-0.131***	-0.008
	(0.016)	(0.020)	(0.021)	(0.029)	(0.030)	(0.014)
PPE/AT	0.073**	-0.255***	-0.073***	-0.070**	-0.197***	0.074***
	(0.034)	(0.033)	(0.026)	(0.031)	(0.054)	(0.021)
EBITDA/AT	-0.005	0.464***	0.336***	-0.007	0.036**	0.029***
	(0.009)	(0.028)	(0.030)	(0.029)	(0.014)	(0.008)
Log(Sale)	-0.389***	0.194***	0.340***	0.567***	0.533***	-0.056**
	(0.062)	(0.038)	(0.039)	(0.053)	(0.051)	(0.027)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.867	0.717	0.650	0.398	0.303	0.923
R2 Adj.	0.845	0.664	0.590	0.294	0.183	0.909
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Table A9: Comparing specifications with different sets of controls and fixed effects

Panel A: Excluding company and industry × year fixed effects

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
Regulation Dispersion	0.078**	-0.003	-0.045***	-0.025**	-0.014	0.069*
	(0.031)	(0.017)	(0.009)	(0.010)	(0.010)	(0.036)
Topic Dispersion	0.453***	-0.088***	-0.099***	0.040***	0.029**	0.186***
	(0.031)	(0.032)	(0.012)	(0.015)	(0.013)	(0.030)
Regulation Complexity	0.042	-0.057***	0.042***	-0.100***	-0.075***	0.031
	(0.030)	(0.010)	(0.010)	(0.010)	(0.007)	(0.021)
Log(Word,10K)	-0.041	0.030*	-0.103***	0.068***	0.045***	-0.165***
	(0.042)	(0.016)	(0.014)	(0.015)	(0.012)	(0.047)
Nsegments	-0.047*	-0.020**	0.006**	-0.024***	-0.027***	-0.022
	(0.024)	(0.009)	(0.003)	(0.005)	(0.005)	(0.021)
PPE/AT	-0.210***	-0.096	-0.054***	0.019	-0.028	0.086
	(0.042)	(0.058)	(0.010)	(0.031)	(0.032)	(0.121)
EBITDA/AT	-0.169***	0.597***	0.639***	-0.067***	0.034**	0.095***
	(0.026)	(0.042)	(0.027)	(0.023)	(0.013)	(0.026)
Log(Sale)	-0.096*	0.350***	0.084***	-0.019	0.007	-0.018
	(0.052)	(0.029)	(0.019)	(0.013)	(0.013)	(0.032)
Tobin's Q	0.200***	0.171***	-0.082***	0.081***	0.021**	-0.025
	(0.021)	(0.024)	(0.015)	(0.012)	(0.010)	(0.016)
(Intercept)	0.000	-0.200***	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000
	(0.077)	(0.027)	(0.014)	(0.020)	(0.017)	(0.085)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.324	0.362	0.475	0.028	0.008	0.104
R2 Adj.	0.324	0.362	0.475	0.027	0.008	0.104
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48

Panel B: Excluding other control variables

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
Regulation Dispersion	0.045***	-0.045**	-0.052***	-0.098***	-0.126***	0.011*
	(0.012)	(0.019)	(0.017)	(0.020)	(0.024)	(0.006)
Topic Dispersion	0.048**	-0.062**	0.016	-0.010	0.009	0.010
	(0.022)	(0.026)	(0.014)	(0.018)	(0.017)	(0.011)
Regulation Complexity	0.016	-0.040	-0.064***	-0.100***	-0.121***	-0.004
	(0.018)	(0.031)	(0.021)	(0.028)	(0.024)	(0.014)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.861	0.675	0.608	0.385	0.288	0.922
R2 Adj.	0.837	0.614	0.541	0.279	0.166	0.909
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Panel C: Oster Tests of the estimated effect of Fragmentation after accounting for unobservables

This table was produced in Stata

Table A10: Recalculating regulatory fragmentation, using alternative approaches

Panel A: Using MD&A section (Section 7) of 10-Ks

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
regul.disp_item7_norm	0.039***	-0.021**	-0.044***	-0.006	-0.047***	0.018**
	(0.010)	(0.010)	(0.009)	(0.011)	(0.013)	(0.008)
Num.Obs.	57275	36934	57275	57275	57275	57275
R2	0.873	0.732	0.655	0.403	0.310	0.923
R2 Adj.	0.850	0.679	0.593	0.296	0.186	0.909
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Panel B: Using most intensive topic within each firm’s 10-Ks

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
regul.disp_main_norm	0.015***	0.002	-0.032***	-0.035***	-0.047***	0.000
	(0.004)	(0.007)	(0.003)	(0.006)	(0.008)	(0.004)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.872	0.730	0.653	0.399	0.304	0.923
R2 Adj.	0.850	0.679	0.593	0.295	0.184	0.910
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Panel C: Dropping the topics that are most intensive across all firms

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
regul.disp_no3_norm	0.030**	-0.036**	0.004	-0.070***	-0.083***	0.011
	(0.012)	(0.017)	(0.016)	(0.021)	(0.025)	(0.006)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.872	0.730	0.653	0.399	0.305	0.923
R2 Adj.	0.850	0.679	0.594	0.296	0.185	0.910
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Panel D: Restricting sample to firms that have been publicly traded for ten years or less

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
Regulation Dispersion	0.069**	-0.034	-0.122***	-0.128**	-0.160**	0.023
	(0.026)	(0.043)	(0.044)	(0.050)	(0.063)	(0.015)
Topic Dispersion	0.046	-0.045	-0.006	-0.083	0.010	0.010
	(0.031)	(0.064)	(0.040)	(0.061)	(0.047)	(0.020)
Regulation Complexity	0.074	-0.004	-0.103	-0.232***	-0.296***	-0.009
	(0.050)	(0.072)	(0.070)	(0.064)	(0.101)	(0.025)
Log(Word,10K)	-0.011	-0.032	-0.225***	-0.007	0.072	-0.012
	(0.027)	(0.039)	(0.067)	(0.054)	(0.044)	(0.011)
Nsegments	0.000	-0.006	-0.024*	-0.041**	-0.051*	-0.013*
	(0.006)	(0.014)	(0.014)	(0.019)	(0.026)	(0.007)
PPE/AT	0.055	-0.252***	-0.175**	-0.052	-0.270**	0.050
	(0.037)	(0.062)	(0.081)	(0.056)	(0.118)	(0.033)
EBITDA/AT	0.050***	0.277***	0.146***	-0.103***	-0.037	0.025***
	(0.017)	(0.035)	(0.028)	(0.035)	(0.028)	(0.008)
Log(Sale)	-0.396***	0.397***	0.591***	1.323***	1.135***	0.007
	(0.086)	(0.090)	(0.075)	(0.150)	(0.175)	(0.042)
Tobin's Q	0.104***	0.205***	-0.088***	-0.005	-0.130***	0.028***
	(0.010)	(0.026)	(0.019)	(0.034)	(0.023)	(0.006)
Num.Obs.	20893	12597	20893	20893	20893	20893
R2	0.908	0.794	0.724	0.534	0.462	0.954
R2 Adj.	0.866	0.685	0.600	0.325	0.220	0.933
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Panel E: Excluding firms in stagnating industries

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
Regulation Dispersion	0.065***	-0.023	-0.058***	-0.097***	-0.146***	0.019*
	(0.022)	(0.025)	(0.019)	(0.035)	(0.041)	(0.010)
Topic Dispersion	0.029*	-0.083***	-0.018	-0.012	0.029	0.000
	(0.016)	(0.029)	(0.027)	(0.021)	(0.034)	(0.007)
Regulation Complexity	0.028	-0.018	0.030	-0.134**	-0.179***	0.016
	(0.034)	(0.031)	(0.032)	(0.059)	(0.057)	(0.014)
Log(Word,10K)	-0.003	-0.052***	-0.143**	0.052*	0.073**	-0.011
	(0.014)	(0.018)	(0.056)	(0.028)	(0.027)	(0.009)
Nsegments	0.000	0.000	-0.012	-0.007	-0.005	-0.006
	(0.006)	(0.007)	(0.007)	(0.007)	(0.007)	(0.003)
PPE/AT	0.082	-0.277***	-0.079	-0.043	-0.230**	0.059**
	(0.056)	(0.060)	(0.048)	(0.065)	(0.087)	(0.022)
EBITDA/AT	-0.010	0.381***	0.290***	-0.024	0.033	0.016**
	(0.010)	(0.036)	(0.040)	(0.034)	(0.020)	(0.007)
Log(Sale)	-0.353***	0.423***	0.413***	0.703***	0.509***	-0.022
	(0.072)	(0.072)	(0.060)	(0.089)	(0.061)	(0.015)
Tobin's Q	0.104***	0.210***	-0.044***	0.044***	-0.064***	0.023***
	(0.009)	(0.021)	(0.011)	(0.013)	(0.016)	(0.004)
Num.Obs.	30765	18644	30765	30765	30765	30765
R2	0.886	0.766	0.684	0.487	0.383	0.941
R2 Adj.	0.852	0.685	0.591	0.336	0.203	0.924
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Table A11: Recalculating regulatory fragmentation, based on alternative numbers of topic groups

Panel A, 57 topics

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
regul.disp_57_norm	0.048***	-0.027	-0.039**	-0.093***	-0.096***	0.023**
	(0.013)	(0.019)	(0.018)	(0.025)	(0.024)	(0.009)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.872	0.730	0.653	0.399	0.304	0.923
R2 Adj.	0.850	0.679	0.593	0.295	0.184	0.910
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Panel B, 70 topics

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
regul.disp_70_norm	0.059***	-0.030*	-0.049***	-0.117***	-0.148***	0.022***
	(0.013)	(0.015)	(0.014)	(0.021)	(0.024)	(0.008)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.872	0.730	0.653	0.399	0.305	0.923
R2 Adj.	0.850	0.679	0.593	0.296	0.185	0.910
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Panel C, 200 topics

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
regul.disp_200_norm	0.053***	-0.014	-0.084***	-0.048**	-0.046**	0.015**
	(0.011)	(0.016)	(0.013)	(0.018)	(0.020)	(0.007)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.872	0.730	0.654	0.398	0.303	0.923
R2 Adj.	0.850	0.679	0.594	0.295	0.183	0.910
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Panel D, 300 topics

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
regul.disp_300_norm	0.044***	-0.013	-0.082***	-0.038**	-0.059***	-0.004
	(0.010)	(0.013)	(0.016)	(0.015)	(0.017)	(0.009)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.872	0.730	0.653	0.398	0.304	0.923
R2 Adj.	0.850	0.678	0.593	0.295	0.184	0.910
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X

Panel E, 1000 topics

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
regul.disp_1000_norm	0.032***	-0.002	-0.060***	-0.024*	-0.017	-0.001
	(0.009)	(0.009)	(0.013)	(0.013)	(0.014)	(0.006)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.872	0.730	0.653	0.398	0.303	0.923
R2 Adj.	0.850	0.679	0.594	0.294	0.183	0.910
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X